Paul and Silas in Philippi
Acts 16.16-34 and John 17.20-end
A few years ago, as my birthday present, our children bought Hazel and me a trip in a hot air balloon. We were absolutely delighted, but we put it off for as long as the ticket would allow! But eventually the great day came, and we consoled ourselves that if we were to die, at least we would die together. It’s true to say, we were pretty apprehensive.
There must have been 9 or 10 of us in the basket. Of course, the key person was the pilot and I tried my best to get to know him, hoping he was a highly experienced balloonist. It turned out it was just his hobby. I then hoped he was highly specialised in some other field, such as trauma surgery, but sadly no.
As we passed over Wethersfield airstrip with planes taking off ahead of us, I asked him if he had informed air traffic control of our flight plans. ‘No’, he said, ‘I think they can see us alright!’ Later he said: ‘It’s getting late, it will be dark soon, we better find somewhere to land.’ But where? First, there was water, then the motorway, and then fields full of electricity pylons. We all thought that we’re risking our lives here, do we trust this pilot? One scared lady said to me ‘You’re a vicar. Do something religious!’ So, I took a collection!!
Most of that story is true. I tell it because we are all on board a balloon of sorts, called ‘Planet Earth’, and often it feels like things are out of control. So it seems legitimate to ask ourselves who is piloting this thing; is there someone in overall authority?’ And if so, can they be trusted?
Certainly Paul and Silas believed that the Lord Jesus is in charge; whatever befell them, he could be trusted with their lives. Their encounter with the slave girl at Philippi leads to their arrest, followed by a severe flogging and then imprisonment. Yet, it didn’t faze them; they passed the night praying and singing hymns, to the fascination of the other prisoners. Later Paul would write to the Christians in that city: I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: ‘I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. … I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.’
The encounter with the girl with a spirit for predicting the future shows us something of the horrors of slavery. To her ‘owners’ (what a dreadful term) she was a non-person; they had no concern for her apart from the money she could make for them. When Paul dispatches the spirit ‘in the name of Jesus Christ’, she drops out of the picture immediately; we hear no more of her. When Paul and Silas are dragged before the magistrates, their accusers don’t even mention her. The accusation is not about a loss of earnings – it’s about ethnicity: ‘These men are disturbing our city; they are Jews ... they are advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe.’ There is something very chilling about the charge that is being made: ‘They are Jews … advocating customs that are not lawful for us Romans.’ It sounds like anti-Semitism to me, dressed up in a concern to protect Roman values and identity. The crowd join the attack and the magistrates order Paul and Silas to be publicly humiliated: they are stripped, flogged and thrown into prison. We call that religious persecution today.
What the Acts of the Apostles is showing us is that there’s a contest going on here – between the power of the Roman sword and the power of the gospel. Which will win? Students of the Acts will know that no prison can silence the gospel. In Acts 12 Peter has a miraculous escape from prison, and in Acts 5 all the apostles are locked up but during the night an angel of the Lord sets them all free. Now here, whilst Paul and Silas are singing the night away a violent earthquake rocks the prison and the doors are flung open. In the ensuing chaos the frightened jailor prepares to take his own life expecting to be executed for allowing prisoners to escape. But when Paul shows him that none have escaped, and that it’s not about a prison breakout anyway, but a demonstration of the power and the truth of the gospel, he asks the big question: ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ And the gospel is preached to him: ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.’ And then, he and his family are baptised.
This is the Sunday after Ascension Day, the day when we are reminded that God has exalted Jesus to the highest place and given him the name that is above all names. He has overall authority; Jesus Christ is Lord.
We live in very uncertain times in our nation’s life. Perhaps we feel that the very foundations are being shaken. Not only that, but terrible things go on here and across the world - modern day slavery: people trafficking, sexual exploitation, child labour, ethnic cleansing, rising anti-Semitism, extreme religious fundamentalism and the persecution of minorities. Sometimes it’s tempting to despair. That’s why it’s so important to remember that Jesus Christ is Lord. Like Paul and Silas, in their dark dungeon, facing an uncertain future, we too must turn to prayer and worship. Worship to get the focus off ourselves, and on to God where it belongs, and prayer, because it is the life blood of our relationship with him.
The Acts of the Apostles was written to show how the ministry of Jesus did not end at his ascension. The Holy Spirit was in the apostles, making their lives and their work a continuation of Jesus’ life and work. Chapter by chapter, we see Christ preached right to the heart of the Empire at Rome.
This morning we have heard again Jesus’ prayer for you and for me. ‘My prayer is that all of them may be one. … As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.’ I understand that to mean that we are to become branches, dwelling in the love of Jesus, the true vine. That we are to be clothed in the character of Jesus and learn to wash each other’s feet. That means seeing the way of the cross, and its self-giving love, as the only way that will lead, one day, to the kingdoms of this world becoming the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ. We can only begin to believe that can happen when we are convinced that Jesus is Lord of all and will have the final word on everything.
